


In the Thorns

by Maverick



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: BAMF Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Gen, Immortal Husbands Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:06:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26403157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maverick/pseuds/Maverick
Summary: Nicky is not a mouse.AKA: Present, Past, and Future Nicky being a badass. (Plus a bonus)
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 28
Kudos: 378





	In the Thorns

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Rumi: _The rose’s rarest essence lives in the thorns._
> 
> Many thanks to Pollitt for her beta. Her attention to detail is top notch and she always catches my inability to follow the laws of physics in action sequences.

TODAY (London, Present Day)

Nicky gave a nod to Joe as he ushered Andy and Nile out of the room.

Copley watched them go and then turned to Nicky. “It looks like you have something to say.”

“This is good information to have.” Nicky motioned to the clippings laid out on the wall. “It’s revolutionary to see the good we’ve done over the years. That said, get us off your damn walls.” 

That was not what Copley was expecting. “What?” 

“You put us at risk.” Nicky motioned with his hands toward the covered walls. “Anyone could come in here and see this display.”

Copley nodded. “Point taken. I’ll take it down and keep the info somewhere more secure.”

“Thank you.” Nicky made no move to leave. 

“That’s not all is it?” Copley asked. 

Nicky shook his head and leveled Copley with a glare. “Not even close. Have a seat Mr. Copley. Andy gave you her demands, now you can listen to mine.” 

Copley sat down on the sofa and watched as Nicky walked over to the window and looked down onto the courtyard where Joe was waiting with Andy and Nile. Throughout his research both in print and video, Nicky appeared to be the most level headed of the bunch, but now Copley wasn't so sure. He was pretty sure he felt less threatened by Merrick and his goons than he did in this moment. 

Nicky turned back to Copley. “We will let you help us, but the debt is not paid.”

Copley nodded. ”I am truly sorry.” 

“You talk of all the good we’ve done, the lives we’ve changed but that wasn’t enough for you.” Nicky took two measured steps toward Copley. “ You attacked our weakest link. You used Booker’s pain against him, against us and that will not be easily forgotten. I see you now, Mr. Copley. And you are on notice.”

Copley’s mouth was suddenly dry. “What does that mean?”

Nicky took another two steps. “That means I’ll be watching. I’ll be waiting and the moment you step out of line, the moment you put yourself or your interests above the team, I will be there.” Nicky walked the last two steps so he was directly behind Copely on the couch, He leaned down and whispered against Copley’s ear. “And Mr. Copley. You won’t see it coming.” 

Copley shivered. He literally felt like he was in Nicky’s crosshairs. He nodded his head. “Understood. I will do my best to be of service to the team.”

“You better,” he said. Nicky straightened up his body, his shoulders now visibly relaxed as he walked to the door. “Have a lovely afternoon, Mr. Copley. We’ll be in touch.”

YESTERDAY (Berlin, 2015)

Nicky blinked several times when they pulled the pillowcase off his head. His hands were zip tied in front of him, which would prove to be a mistake for his captors. Of course, it had been a set up from the get-go. His team was watching from the building across the alleyway. They had wired the building for video and sound over a week ago. Nicky had positioned himself on the rooftop waiting to be nabbed for going on three days. This latest group of assholes weren’t the brightest bulbs they’d ever faced, but stupidity was not an excuse for the cruelty of their actions. No, Nicky would use their foolishness against them and that would work to his team’s advantage. These traffickers clearly thought he was no match. He loved proving their misconceptions wrong.

Nicky scanned the room. There were five of them. Three with guns, one with an oversized knife. Nicky had to stop himself from smiling at the Joe voice in his head saying that one was clearly overcompensating for inadequacies elsewhere. The last one, the leader, for lack of a better term had no visible weapons on him. Time to kick the hornet’s nest. “Care to share why you took me hostage?” Nicky asked, his voice clear and calm. 

“We caught your crew moving in on our territory. We don’t play well with others.” 

Nicky shrugged his shoulders. “Are you sure about that? I don’t think our worldviews are exactly compatible.” Nicky’s team rescued the people these assholes tried to sell into slavery. So yeah, not compatible at all. 

“It doesn’t matter. We have you now. For a sniper, you were a really easy catch. Maybe you're not very good at your job.” 

Nicky could make a crack about things being too easy for a reason, but he would keep quiet for now. “You’d be surprised at how well I do my job. What exactly is your plan?”

The leader looked at Nicky like he was surprised that Nicky would ask that question. He wasn’t going to give their plan away just because Nicky asked. “They will come for you and we’ll be ready.” 

Nicky met the leader’s eyes. “What makes you think they will come for me?” 

“Your crew has a reputation of leaving no man behind. They will not leave you here to be killed.”

Nicky chuckled, his voice cold and distant. “I’m pretty hard to kill.” 

“But quite easy to capture. Maybe they will leave you as you are clearly the weak link. What exactly do you do for them, except cook meals and let people sneak up on you?”

Joe, Andy and Booker all laughed from where they were watching and listening in the adjacent building. If these assholes only knew. They all loved hearing Nicky bait the trap. And Joe could admit he loved watching Nicky play these assholes like a fiddle. 

Nicky chuckled as he formed his attack plan in his head. It would only be a few more minutes. “So what, do you think they simply keep me around for my bolognese?” 

Andy looked up from the screen and at Joe and Booker. “I’d like to state for the record, I would keep him around just for his bolognese.”

“Maybe not his bolognese,” Booker said, “but definitely for his ratatouille.”

Joe closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He knew Nicky could handle the situation but there was a time and place. And this was not it. He opened his eyes and glared at both of them. “Guys. Can we focus on the mission, please.” 

Booker nudged Joe with his shoulder. “We all know what you keep him around for Joe.” 

Joe shoved back. “If your answer was to stop me from shooting both of you everyday, then you’d be correct” 

“Chill, Joe,” Andy said. “Take a look at Nicky’s face. He’s having way too much fun for you to be this stressed out. 

“It’s not that I don’t know he’s more than capable of taking them all out. I just don’t like not having his back.” 

“You’ve got his back. This is his plan,” Andy said as she walked over to Joe. She placed her hand across Joe’s nape. “It’s going to be fine. You know how he gets when we are dealing with human traffickers. He’s the most fierce of us all. Those fuckers have no idea they're sitting on a powder keg. The carnage he’s gonna reign down will be epic.” 

Joe nodded and looked back at the screen. He focused in on Nicky’s face. Andy was right. Joe knew that look. That look was of a man who was about to go feral. Joe was self aware enough to admit that he found this side of Nicky super hot. 

“You see cretino, I don’t need anyone to come and rescue me. I have faced so many weak-minded men such as yourself. The fact that you thought I was not a threat shows just how remarkably stupid you are.” 

The boss snorted. “What? You think you’re going to take out all five of us?”

Nicky moved before the leader had even finished his sentence. They had not bound his legs, so he used a swift kick to the knees to take down the man with the knife. Nicky then grabbed the man’s shirt with his bound hands and spun around, using that body to shield the first two shots from the gunmen across the room. The man with the knife was dead before his body hit the floor. Nicky unsheathed the knife and spun around again, plunging it into the neck of the closest gunman. He twisted the blade to completely sever the carotid artery. He took the gun from those dead hands and quickly squeezed off two kill shots that hit the other two gunmen in the dead center of their foreheads. It had taken less than thirty seconds, but all that was left was the so-called boss. “You were saying,” Nicky said, kicking away the gun that the leader tried to grab. 

“Who are you?” the boss asked as Nicky used a hard kick to the calves to bring him quickly to his knees.

Nicky looked down with a combination of pity and fury lighting his face. “Judgement for what you put all those girls through.” He grabbed the man’s hair in one hand. “You clearly mistake compassion for weakness. Never underestimate the ruthlessness of a righteous man,” Nicky said as he picked the man up by his head, using the man’s own body weight to twist sharply, snapping his neck as he slammed him to the ground “Not that you’ll ever get the chance again.” 

Nicky stepped over the body and singled two minutes to his team as he made his way to crack open the safe. Then the real work would begin. They’d have the intel to retrieve the girls directly in danger and take down the entire network. 

Nicky’s team whooped and hollered like they were watching a sporting event. Andy cupped Joe’s shoulder and squeezed. “I told you, he had it under control.” 

Joe nodded and started packing up the surveillance equipment. He couldn’t trust himself to talk yet. 

Andy gave him a good once over and then turned to Booker. “Hey Book, I think you and I are gonna need to make ourselves scarce for a while.”

Booker laughed and nodded in agreement. “I mean I don’t find Nicky attractive in the least, and I kinda want to bone him right now.” 

“Fuck you both,” Joe said as he made his way out the door. He turned back. “But you’re not wrong. We’ll meet up in the morning.”

TOMORROW (Afghanistan, 2025)

Nile was his spotter. They were making sure she was comfortable with all the different roles on the team. While a spotter was an important partner to a military sniper, for Nicky sniper duty was usually a solitary one. Unless it was for an infiltration mission, Nicky usually worked the rifle alone. The need for always having a spotter faded away once the technology advanced. He could work both his rifle and the spotting scope by himself. He usually liked the solitude but having Nile with him was a nice change. That said, it was go time. Nicky planted his bipod and zeroed his weapon. He took a deep breath, exhaled and did not breath again until he had taken the shot. He pulled the trigger. He didn’t even need to look to know it was a direct hit.

Nile broke the silence with a whistle. “Dude, you just took out three people over 1800 meters away and caught the casing in your hand. You are really fucking scary, Nicky.”

Nicky was already moving, breaking down the bipod stand and making sure nothing was out of place. “Thank you Nile. I’ll take that as a compliment. Let’s pack up and regroup with the rest of the team.” 

Nile helped Nicky pack up their bags. “How’d you get so good?”

Nickty turned to Nile. “At long distance shooting?”

“Yeah.” 

“Many. many decades of practice. It’s easier these days, the equipment does most of the hard work. You just need a steady hand, a steady heart.” Nicky gave the smaller pack to Nile and motioned for her to begin the descent down the mountainside

Nile took lead as they began the long trek back down the mountain. “Do you worry you’ll hit the wrong person?” 

“No. If you are in the scope of my rifle, you’ve done something to belong there, Nicky said “No second guessing and no guilt.” 

Nile stopped and turned to look at Nicky. “How long did it take you to get to that point?”

Reaching out, Nicky rubbed his hand across Nile’s forearm. “Many decades, I’m afraid sorellina. But it will come.” 

Nile believed him. “What did you do before the equipment did the work?” 

They started walking again. “Oh I had Joe. He did the math. I could do it, but not in my head like him. He could make adjustments for wind velocity and air density on the fly. I required more time.”

That made sense. Joe was a whiz with numbers. “Why are you the sniper then?” 

Nicky chuckled. “Being able to do the math and being able to do the work are entirely different skill sets. I like to say I see at a distance and Joe sees close up. It’s why he’s such an amazing artist. It does not explain why I can’t even draw stick figures however.” 

Nile laughed. “I would have thought you would have said that lack of patience was why Joe was not as good a sniper.” 

“No, everyone assumes Yuself is lacking patience because he does everything with such passion. But that’s not true. He waited for me for nearly three years to realize that what I felt for him was love and it was not ever going to go away.” 

“I think he’d say you were more than worth the wait, Nicky.” 

Nicky nodded. “Very true. I think my Yusef simply does not like killing from a distance. He wants to look a person in the eye when he kills them. Myself included, back in the day.” 

“You prefer the long view?” Nile asked, her voice taking on a serious tone.

Nicky stopped again. “I’d prefer to live in a world where killing wasn’t necessary, but I have no real preference. There are bad people in this world that must be stopped. I pledged myself to protecting people as best I could. I’ll use all my skills to honor that covenant. Whatever it takes.”

Nile leaned in and squeezed his hand. “Like I said before, you’re scary as fuck, Nicky.” 

Nicky smiled. “But you are not afraid of me.” 

“Nah. I’m on your side. For now and always.” 

“You can be pretty scary yourself sorellina.”

Nile laughed. “Come on, let's go meet up with the rest of our badass team.” 

“Lead the way.”

BONUS

“Take off your pants, Joe,” Nicky said, his hands at Joe’s waist as he ushered him through the door to their bedroom and kicked the door shut behind him.

Joe laughed as he unhooked his belt and unzipped his jeans. He pushed them down until they pooled at his feet before stepping out of them. “Not that I'm complaining, but what brought this on?”

Nicky was already stripping Joe of his dirty sleeveless t-shirt and pushing him down onto the bed. He quickly divested himself of his shirt and pants. “It’s been nearly a century since you did any large scale sculpting. Seeing you coax and caress that slab of marble with your strong capable hands does things to me, as you well know.” 

Joe smirked up at Nicky and licked his lips. He did know. 

Nicky yanked down Joe’s boxers and shed his own before crawling up Joe’s body on the bed. He cradled Joe’s head in his hands as he straddled his torso. “It makes me want to coax and caress you,” Nicky said before sealing his mouth to Joe’s. He licked Joe’s bottom lip before biting it gently. He pulled Joe’s hands above his head and pinned them there before licking a stripe across Joe’s neck. “Maybe break you a little just like you do that marble.” 

Joe tilted his head up begging for another kiss. “Break away. I am yours. But maybe forgo the hammer and chisel.”

Nicky bit and then smiled against the tendon of Joe’s neck. “As if I need tools to take you apart.” 

Joe shivered and laughed and gave himself over to the romantic onslaught of a relentlessly focused Nicky.

**Author's Note:**

> Translations:
> 
>  _Cretino_ : Fool
> 
>  _Sorellina_ : Little Sister


End file.
